The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will complete operations for the Small Scale Solar Powered Sail Demonstration Satellite, IKAROS (the Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) and end the spacecraft's search operations on May 15, 2025. After this date, JAXA will no longer track IKAROS and all operations will end.

IKAROS was launched on May 21, 2010, together with the Venus Climate Orbiter, Akatsuki. IKAROS became the first in the world to successfully demonstrate a solar sail and solar power sail. By December 2011, after achieving all mission goals, the propellant was close to depletion and attitude control was difficult. IKAROS began to repeatedly enter and exit from hibernation mode (shutdown state). In order to continue to receive radio signals from IKAROS after the spacecraft woke from hibernation, it was necessary to accurately predict the orbit and attitude movement of the solar sail during the hibernation mode. By searching for IKAROS after waking from hibernation, the validity of this motion model was able to be verified and the accuracy improved. Radio waves were successfully received from IKAROS until the fourth wake-up, but after the spacecraft entered hibernation for the fifth time in May 2015, no radio waves from IKAROS have been detected.

It has been determined that there is only an extremely small possibility of receiving radio signals from IKAROS in the future, and so it has been decided to end operations.

The development, launch, and operation of IKAROS was made possible thanks to the support and cooperation of the many participating organisations, and the encouragement from around the world. We are deeply grateful.

Thank you very much.

The achievements of IKAROS will be inherited by a number of up-coming missions. In the area of solar sails, the development of the "Powered Innovative Earth-orbiter with Reorientable Inclined Sail" (PIERIS) is underway, which aims to demonstrate integrated attitude-orbit control of an ultra-small solar sail. Attitude control using solar pressure torque is currently being carried out or planned for the Extended Mission of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft, the next-generation of small body sample return missions, and other explorations in space. For solar power sails, thin-film solar cell paddles are being developed for application to outer planetary explorers with the OPENS program, as well as other missions.

Although the operation of IKAROS has ended, our mission through the inherited results of the IKAROS spacecraft, is by no means at an end. We believe that the best way to return the support we have received is the continued development of solar sails and solar power sails. We want to thank everyone once again, and we look forward to your support in the future.